Neue Miniserie mit John: "Prey"

ITV has ordered a new three-part drama titled Prey, which is described as a thriller and hails from writer Chris Lunt and Red Production Company (whose drama series Scott & Bailey was just renewed for a fourth season). Production on the drama, which will star John Simm (Mad Dogs) in the leading role, is slated to commence on location in Manchester in October.

[spoiler]John Simm to star in ITV drama ‘Prey’
By
Debs Hunt
– 23/08/2013Posted in: News, TV
John Simm to lead the cast of ‘Prey’ in his first ITV drama.

ITV has commissioned a three-part drama, ‘Prey’, starring John Simm, and written and created by television newcomer Chris Lunt.

John Simm (Exile, TheVillage) will play Detective Constable Marcus Farrow, a well-liked copper, with a wife and two kids. Although he and his wife Abi are going through a rough patch, they’re trying not to let it disrupt life for their sons, Max and Finn.

But when Farrow is found at the scene of a brutal crime, with all the evidence pointing towards him, his world collapses.

Arrested and charged, it seems Farrow’s fate is sealed. So when he gets the opportunity to escape, he seizes it with both hands.

Now Farrow is on the run in Manchester. A criminal on the streets he used to police.

Detective Sergeant Susan Reinhardt is tasked with catching him, and so begins a high-stakes game of cat and mouse across the city.

But Farrow is not just trying to evade capture. He is determined to find the truth – to get to the bottom of the crime of which he stands accused, and clear his name in the eyes of his family.

As a wanted killer, Farrow has few allies. The only people he can turn to are his best friend DC Sean Devlin, and colleague DI Andrea Macgregor, but with Reinhardt breathing down his neck, Farrow knows he must be careful.

With the clock ticking, will Farrow evade capture long enough to find the truth, or will Reinhardt get to him first?

One thing is certain – for the sake of his family, Farrow is prepared to do things he never thought possible. And he won’t rest until he knows the truth.

The drama is directed by Nick Murphy (Occupation, Blood) and produced by Tom Sherry (Scott & Bailey, New Tricks) with Red Production company founder Nicola Shindler (Unforgiven, Last Tango in Halifax) as Executive Producer.

“We’re attempting something different with Prey,” said Nicola. “It’s very fast-paced and to enhance the high octane qualities of Chris’s brilliant scripts we’ll be shooting essentially from the back of a transit van. It’s almost a guerrilla style technique, which will make Prey feel accessible and edgy with the ‘real’ factor. We’re confident re-defining how we shoot will heighten tension and create an added layer of intrigue to the drama.”

“Chris Lunt is a very talented writer and we are delighted to have his debut serial on ITV,” said ITV’s Director of Drama, Steve November. “He has created extremely vivid characters in Prey and we are very excited to have John Simm in the lead role.”

Cavaliero has been cast as Detective Sergeant Susan Reinhardt, the police office tasked with bringing in Detective Constable Marcus Farrow; Parkinson as Detective Constable Sean Devlin, Farrow’s best friend and one of the few people he can turn to; Edmondson as Assistant Chief Constable Warner, who tasks DS Reinhardt to bring in Farrow; Peace as Abi Farrow, Marcus’ wife; Concannon as Max, Farrow’s son; Hille as Detective Inspector Andrea Mackenzie, one of Farrow’s colleagues and one of the few people he can turn to; and Dent-Watson as Finn, Farrow’s other son. They join previously announced main cast member John Simm (Mad Dogs) who is playing lead character Marcus Farrow. Production on Prey is now underway in Manchester, with ITV eyeing a 2014 premiere.

Created by television newcomer Lunt, Prey tells the story of a man on the run, desperate to clear his name for the sake of his family. When Detective Constable Marcus Farrow (John Simm), a well-liked copper with a wife (Heather Peace) and two kids (Charlie Concannon and Ezra Dent-Watson), is found at the scene of a brutal crime his world starts to collapse. Arrested and charged, it seems Farrow’s fate is sealed. So when he gets the opportunity to escape, he seizes it with both hands. Now Farrow is on the run in Manchester. Detective Sergeant Susan Reinhardt (Rosie Cavaliero) is tasked with catching him, and so begins a high-stakes game of cat and mouse across the city. But Farrow is not just trying to evade capture. He is determined to find the truth – to get to the bottom of the crime of which he stands accused, and clear his name in the eyes of his family. As a wanted killer, Farrow has few allies. The only people he can turn to are his best friend DC Sean Devlin (Craig Parkinson), and colleague DI Andrea Mackenzie (Anastasia Hille), but with Reinhardt breathing down his neck, Farrow knows he must be careful. With the clock ticking, will Farrow evade capture long enough to find the truth, or will Reinhardt get to him first? Red Production Company is producing the drama with Nicola Shindler serving as the executive producer. Nick Murphy is attached to direct.[/spoiler]

Three-part drama “Prey”, which was penned by television newcomer Chris Lunt and stars John Simm, will be hitting TV screens later this year.

The show centres around family man Marcus Farrow, a detective who is forced to go on the run in Manchester after being accused of murder.

“There’s lot of action, lots of stunts and a lot of entertainment,” said Chris (42), who works out of an office above his partner’s studio, Touch Hair and Beauty, in Colne. “It’s currently being trailed by ITV and it’s going to be primetime. We’re not sure of the exact broadcast date yet but it will be in the next few months.

“John Simm is a fabulous actor and brought an awful lot to the character. I knew quite early he was going to be attached to the show. After I wrote the first episode it went to John via his agent and he came back very quickly to say he was interested, so I wrote episodes two and three with him in mind. And when we were on set we set we had plenty of stuff to talk about with him being from Nelson and me living in Briercliffe.”

A passion of Chris’ since the age of 10, he only started writing professionally in 2010 after being made redundant from a job at CGI firm Red Vision.

“One of the first things I ever wanted to do was write. I did work as a lathe turner, an engineer. I was probably the worst lathe turner in the country. I was abysmal.

“One day when I was 23 or 24 I looked around and just decided to walk out.”

He started working part-time at a television company in Chester before a chance encounter saw him end up working for the Discovery Channel, travelling the world as a cameraman.

“From there I pitched myself to Red Vision, a CGI firm, as somebody who could develop ideas for them for TV programmes and that’s how I broke into the scene really. When Red Vision went bust that’s when I decided to give writing a real go.

“I was pitching a lot of high concept ideas; science fiction, aliens, that kind of stuff. They told me though that the chances are these ideas were not going to get made, because of how high concept they were. So they said let’s have a brainstorm and see if we can come up with something a bit more traditional.

“So I pitched them this idea and they said ‘yeah, that’s interesting’.

He did not imagine for one second that his script would make its way onto national primetime television.

“You can’t do that otherwise you would go insane. The only thing you can focus on is what you do next. It’s such a fickle business. Every step you make is a success and every step you get paid for is a massive success.

“Once you demonstrate that you can produce something, you are on your way . For some people it can happen quickly, for others it can take longer.

“If you are an emerging or aspiring writer in this industry you will have a dozen plates spinning at any one time and you can’t count on any one of them hitting the TV screen.

“I have had a lot of support. Writing is filled with lots of good people. It isn’t easy. It has taken me over 10 years and I think I’ve had a pretty easy run at it. You have to work at building relationships with production companies and accept criticism.”

“Prey” finished shooting in January and Chris now finds himself spinning more plates than ever.

“At the moment I’m doing a book adaptation for the BBC called “Bringing Down The Krays”; “Dreamland” for ITV, a cop drama set in the 1920s and “Division”, another one for ITV, which is a procedural cop drama. These are all script commissions so they haven’t been green-lit yet. I have a lot of things in development as well so I’m keeping busy.

“Hopefully in the future I’ll be able to get into feature films and screenplays; that’s the direction I would like to take.”[/spoiler]